The Mermaid's Tears
by EgyptianMau
Summary: A short story indirectly related to Haruka and Michiru. Based on a celtic song, a sad tale with some feel good moments.


Author's note: I actually had this idea when I was listening to a song. Took me a while to write it, but I think it turned out well ^^  
  
~~~  
  
Lightning shot across the sky, thunder booming after it. The roof shook over a group of giggling girls, leaving them shrieking and buried under various colors of sleeping bags. One by one, pairs of frightful eyes finally emerged.  
  
"Yeah. On my birthday. Lovely," one girl grumbled, brushing back strands of dark hair.   
  
"It'll be over before midnight," another offered.  
  
Grinning madly, a blonde got to her feet, stepping over her comrades nimbly. "You know what this reminds me of? A horror movie."  
  
"Shut up, Katie!" the birthday-girl hissed. Some of the girls cast fearful glances around the room.  
  
"We should tell stories," Katie continued.  
  
"NO SCARY ONES!"  
  
"You're such a baby, Marie."  
  
"Well it IS my birthday!"  
  
"Okay, okay," a redhead interrupted. "Enough fighting." Fidgeting to reach under a girl beside her, she produced a flashlight and clicked it on. "We'll start a story and go around in a circle, handing it off. How's that?" The group nodded, seeming to like the idea. "Alright. I'll begin.  
  
"A long, long time ago, the planets were inhabitable and everyone lived in peace. There really weren't any wars or diseases, but work was beginning to become scarce. One family, finding themselves falling on hard times, gave up on their lived on Uranus and relocated to Neptune, which was covered mainly in rolling, sapphire waves and very little land, but the humans there were known to be happy, and they had high hopes for the future. They settled in a town close to a shore and enjoyed a few quiet nights on the beach while their house was being completed.  
  
"Now, this family had a small daughter. Lanky for her size and unruly, some mistook her for a boy. She didn't find this troubling, and often went out to roughhouse with the lads along the shore. One day, though, she kicked the ball they had been playing with into the water and it was lost. Angry, the boys stormed off and refused to play with her. She became intent on getting the ball back and quickly waded into the water, but stopped.   
  
"Sitting not too far out on a jetty a lovely figure of a mermaid came into view. Delicate, with spiraling aqua hair and placid blue eyes, the girl found herself staring as the mermaid began to play a strange looking violin. The music was lovely and alluring, and the girl began to move forward to greet the native Neptunian. Startled, the mermaid stopped and swam away, leaving the girl to return to shore empty handed and disappointed.   
  
"Her grandmother had been watching the whole time, and went to meet her. 'I will learn to play for the mermaid, Grandmother,' the girl said. 'I want to be such a beautiful creature's friend.' Her elder simply smiled and led her back to their fire to dry off."  
  
The redhead stopped and passed the flashlight to Marie, who blushed.  
  
"Ah...well..." she began. "Time passed and the girl got bigger until she stood taller than some of the men. Still a tomboy, she stayed away from the domestic duties of women and took up playing a small flute. Day after day, she'd sit on the shore and wait for the mermaid to come back so she could hear the song, and slowly she learned to play a harmony to it. She didn't let the mermaid hear it, though; she kept her practice to their house.  
  
"The morning came where she stood on the beach and looked across the water, seeing the mermaid sitting there, and allowing the mermaid to start her song as usual with the funny looking violin. Partway through she raised her own flute and began the harmony, catching the creature off guard enough to halt her playing. 'Don't stop playing,' she called. 'It sounds wonderful!' The mermaid seemed to agree, and the two started the song over, melding their instrument's voices until a beautiful tune resulted.   
  
"Happy with her new friend, the woman came down to the shore every morning for their usual session. Sometimes even risking her life to brave the jetty just to be closer to the mermaid, who let her touch her olive skin and fine hair braided with sea weed. The girl's cropped golden locks in turn fascinated the mermaid. Often, the mermaid would gesture to the sun to show her friend how beautiful she thought it was, because, although they had a unique bond, they didn't have a common language to communicate with."  
  
Marie attempted to pass the light to a different girl, but she shied away and another grabbed hold, quickly taking up the story. "The girl began to love the mermaid..."  
  
"Oh, don't have them doing THAT!" Katie cried, burying her head in her pillow.  
  
"Grow up," the redhead snapped. "Go ahead, Sarah."  
  
Sarah looked from one to the other, but nodded. "Anyway, the girl began to love the mermaid, and the mermaid returned it. She'd bring her shells from the ocean floor and make tokens for her. The girl and the mermaid continued to spend time with each other for months until one day a fishing ship passed through and spotted what they assumed was a large fish, which in fact was just the girl's mermaid. Excited at the possibility of such a catch, the caption decided their next outing would be to catch such a thing. Having been crossing the docks to her home at the time, the girl overheard and was alarmed, deciding the next afternoon she would have to warn her friend.  
  
"But it was too late. The ships had already been deployed, but instead of her mermaid being the catch, her comrade's younger brother was pulled ashore, lifeless. The mermaid accused her of being just like the rest of her kind with angry gestures. Hurt, the girl watched her swim off after attempting to regain her good name.  
  
"A town meeting was called in regards to the dead Neptunian, and the girl went to pass time and hopefully see the messy deal put to rest, but the people were thrilled. They wanted to see more. The mermaids fascinated them, and they didn't care if they saw them dead or alive. Appalled, the woman rushed back to her home and grabbed her flute, hoping to alert her friend before it was too late."  
  
Sarah handed the flashlight to Katie.  
  
"The people got the mermaid and she died. The end," Katie said.  
  
"That's a stupid ending!" Marie voiced.  
  
"Marie's right," the redhead said. "Come up with a better one."  
  
Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. "She went to the beach and began to play, but a storm swept in and blew all her notes inland. Figuring she had better try harder, she got into one of her family's small rowboats and forced it out to sea near the jetty, playing as loud as she could. Still finding that it was muffled, she climbed onto the slippery rocks where the mermaid usually sat and continued from there. The girl played for a good long time before dark, aqua hair finally emerged beside the jetty. Still angry, the mermaid signed her frustration; demanded to know what the problem was and that her words probably wouldn't be worth her time. The girl told her the plan of her towns people and begged her forgiveness, which the mermaid quickly gave once she realized her friend really had been a friend all along and only had her well being in mind."  
  
"Aww...isn't that cute?" Katie said sarcastically, interrupting her own part of the story. "Anyway, she told the mermaid that she needed to relocate her family along a different shore and that she'd miss her and all that fluffy bunny jazz. The mermaid agreed and began to swim away as the girl made her way down the rocks to her boat. Halfway there, the fishing boat, shedding water from the downpour and rolling waves, came into view. The people on board saw a figure sliding along the jetty, and became excited. One reached for a gun and fired at what he assumed was a mermaid, missing the girl by a hair, but frightening her enough to lose her balance. She flailed her arms, but lost her footing, tumbling the rest of the way down into the icy water.   
  
Being cornered by the bright lanterns the boat was carrying, the mermaid turned around to start back towards the rocks just as she saw her friend's body hit the ocean. Panicked, she dived and searched for her comrade until her webbed hands closed around the wool of her shirt and she hauled her back onto the jetty. The mermaid realized her friend hadn't lived through the fall as bright, red blood slowly seeped into the girl's golden locks and down into the salty blue water.   
  
The ship neared, and a lifeboat was sent to see what they had 'caught', only to find a mermaid carefully shielding the body of the dead girl. Shocked, they let the mermaid help them haul her friend over the edge of their boat, and waited as she placed a tender kiss on the palm of her friend's limp hand.   
  
They let the mermaid get away, reporting only the body of her friend, but they would of had an easy time at getting the Neptunian. She stayed beside her comrade's rowboat, clutching her flute as she wept. Only the people wouldn't have been able to tell, because a mermaid's tears blend with the ocean. Sometimes, the villagers would talk of ghost music along the jetty in the years to come. If the children listened hard enough they could hear the faint playing of a flute and violin, and occasionally see a lone mermaid sitting on the rocks, weeping silently because they'd killed her only friend." The group stared at Katie as her face continued to be solemn. Then, her lips broke into a smile and she clicked off the flashlight, leaving everyone in the dark. "The End. 'Night."  
  
Faint mumblings proceeded as the rest of the girls got comfortable, letting the house fall into silence. Rain patted on the roof lightly, and thunder echoed off in the distance. Obviously the storm was moving away.  
  
Katie rolled onto her side and felt a hand reach out and touch her arm lightly.  
  
"Wonderful ending, Katie," the redhead whispered.  
  
Katie smiled at her in the dark. "Thank you, Keri."  
  
~~~  
  
Please drop me a line. I REALLY appreciate feedback. :D 


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